How to Open a Closet (Rewrite)
by Squirbulbazard
Summary: The (improved) story of a Charmander whose life changes when we has a wet dream about one of his best friends. Now questioning his sexuality, he must face many new hardships, along with unexpected turns of events. (Rating MAY be changed to M in the future.) Warnings: Mild Swearing, mild violence, mild alcohol, and mild smut references. DISCLAIMER: I do not own Pokémon or the image.


**Warnings: Mild Swearing, alcohol usage, and mild smut references ahead in this story. This particular chapter contains only mild swearing.**

 **Spoiler: Turn the handle and pull. That's how to open a closet. In some instances, however, you may need to push or unlock it via use of a key.**

 **Anyway, this purpose of this chapter is mainly to show how Charmander and his friends were around the ages of 8-10, and how they progressed (or, 'evolved' if you will,) into their teens, along with introducing the main plot driver.**

* * *

 ** _Prologue: Simpler Times_**

* * *

Charmander was having a sleepover at his house with his two best friends: Squirtle and Bulbasaur. The two had stayed over for a few days already, and today would be one of their last, as spring break was almost over. On this particular day, however, they had decided to play Hide and go Seek—What embarrassed grown-ups would refer to as 'Man-Hunt'. Charmander pushed open the sliding door, revealing a seemingly endless forest that stretched on for miles upon miles in his own backyard. Charmander's mother had forbade them from going past the river located about half a mile down, but none of them cared; that half mile of forest was all they needed. Charmander ran to the closest tree—which happened to be an apple tree located a few feet before the woods started—and put his head against the tree as the others ran passed him in unknown directions. Charmander counted down from 20, until he finally yelled, "Ready or not, here I come!" He was anxious to find everyone and be announced the winner, and there were only five minutes to find his friends before the timer—which had been placed on the porch—sounded. While Charmander frantically ran around checking behind every tree and in every bush, he suddenly heard a shuffling noise nearby. He practically pounced on top of the bush that had created the sound, falling on top of Squirtle in the process.

Whining could be heard, "Oww...Charmander, that hurt..." Squirtle said, rubbing his forehead as he emerged from the bushes.

"Hehe...sorry, I may of gotten a little excited..." Charmander said, giving an awkward grin. A light streak of blush appeared across his face from mild embarrassment. "Well, either way...I found you! So now you need to help me find Bulbas-"

"Charmander, Kids! Come inside! There's a storm coming, and I don't want you to stay outside and get a cold." Charmander's mother—Chariza—said, calling out for them.

"Aw..." Charmander and Squirtle both started to pout. The two began to head back, with Bulbasaur following close behind them after emerging from a tree that he had somehow managed to climb up.

A big, goofy smile was plastered on Bulbasaur's face, "I guess this means I won!" He said.

Charmander got defensive at this, "What? No! I would've definitely found you if Mommy—er, my mom—didn't call for us to come inside..." Charmander grabbed and stopped the timer as the trio climbed up the porch steps. He pushed the sliding door open, allowing his two friends to pass before shutting it behind himself.

Squirtle sneered, "I dunno, you usually forget to check up in the trees."

"Ah, shuddup...besides, if that's the case, then why didn't you hide in a tree?" Charmander asked, feeling slightly frustrated with himself.

"I'm not as good at climbing like Bulbasaur...and besides! It still took you..." He snatched the timer out of Charmander's hand. Squirtle smirked, "...three minutes and 47 seconds to find me." He said, placing the timer down on the dining room table. Charmander groaned in response, letting out a defeated sigh afterward.

"Whatever...Fine, I guess Bulbasaur wins..." Charmander said. He groaned again, this time more out of defeat than frustration. His head lowered as he sulked to himself.

"Yay!" Bulbasaur said, hopping up and down with joy.

"Now, now-settle down, boys. Here, I've made you something to snack on." Chariza said, placing a plate full of chocolate chip cookies on the table.

"Oh wow!" Charmander's face suddenly lit up as he reached for a cookie off of the plate. "Thanks, Mommy!" He said as he happily ate his cookie, the other two grabbing ones for themselves as well. Charmander then picked up the entire plate of cookies. "We'll be in my room!" He said as began to head upstairs to his room, his two friends following close behind him.

"Alright, you three have fun!" Chariza called, taking a seat on the nearby living room couch to watch some television before the power most likely goes out.

The three of them took a seat in a triangular formation, with the plate of cookies sitting in the middle of them.

"So, what should we do since we have to stay inside?" Squirtle asked while eating a cookie.

Charmander thought over his options before making a suggestion, "Hmm...I dunno...maybe a game?"

"Yeah, but all you have is that fighting game, Stadium." Squirtle said, not particularly fond of the game himself.

"Hey, I also have Stadium 2!" Charmander happily proclaimed before sneering, "Besides, you the only reason you don't like it because you always lose!"

"What? I do not..." Squirtle said, half-mumbling. He quickly changed the subject, "Uh, maybe we could do a board game?"

"Oh, okay!" Charmander said standing up. He walked over to the nightstand at the side of his bed. "I have Checkers, Chess...Chutes 'n' Ekans...Clue...and...that's it." He said, finishing the not-so-long list of board games he owned.

"Umm...maybe Clue? That's fun." Bulbasaur said.

"Yeah, okay." Charmander said, agreeing. He pulled the game out from underneath the nightstand and brought it over, pushing the cookies aside and plopping the game down. "Okay, I'll be Mr. Cacterne, you?"

"Ms. Jynx." Bulbasaur said, taking his piece.

"Then I'll be...Colonel Hypno." Squirtle said after thinking about it for a bit. They set up the game and began playing. In the end, it turned out to be none other than Ms. Jynx, who was in the lounge with some rope. Squirtle was the one who figured it out.

"Haha, I win!" Squirtle said victoriously, a large smile appearing on his face.

Charmander pouted, "Aw...I lost again..." He said.

"It doesn't make sense, though..." Bulbasaur started, "Why would Ms. Jynx need to figure out she was the murderer? Shouldn't she of already known that...?" He asked, feeling a bit puzzled.

"Maybe she was trying to see if she could frame it on someone else first?" Squirtle said, not thinking it made much sense either, although at the same time not really caring.

"Speaking of Ms. Jynx...did you know that for a while, she was black?" Charmander asked.

"Oh, really?" Squirtle asked back.

"Uh-huh! She's supposed to be biracial, but for a while they made her look black instead of how she normally looks."

"Huh, interesting..."

"Oh, wow! it's 10 o'clock already!" Bulbasaur suddenly said, having noticed the time.

"Well...we did play Clue for a while. Plus, it probably didn't help that we had to find a flashlight with working batteries when the power went out." Charmander said, pretty much no longer caring about his loss anymore.

"I guess...Oh, actually, I didn't realize the power went back on until just now...I guess I got adjusted to the darkness." Squirtle said, slightly embarrassed.

"Anyway, I guess we should go to bed now." Charmander said, finishing putting the game away.

"Yeah, okay." Squirtle said, getting up and plopping down on the left side of the air mattress. Bulbasaur followed suit, with the exception of going on the right side instead.

"G'night." Charmander said, throwing his blanket over himself as he crawled into his bed.

Squirtle yawned as he curled up in the blanket, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight!" Bulbasaur said still cheerfully as ever, finishing off the chain of goodnights. Soon they all dozed off, falling fast asleep.

"Charmander..." Charmander heard a soft whisper.

"Charmander." He heard it again.

"Hey, Charmander!" He got shook this time.

"What...?" Charmander asked groggily, rolling to his side to be met face-to-face with Squirtle and Bulbasaur.

"Ssshhh!" Squirtle said, shushing him. "There's someone's down stairs!"

"H-he's with your mom on the couch, and...and..." Bulbasaur started to elaborate, both of them having failed to whisper, resulting in a sort of yelling-whisper.

"...Wha? What're you-"

"CHARMANDER! WAKE UP!"

"AHHHH!" Charmander jumped in his bed, almost hitting the ceiling. "Mom, what the hell!" He looked around. _"Oh, it was just a dream...I wonder why I dreamt of that day...?"_ He thought to himself, confused. He started looking from side to side just to make sure he was in his room and no longer dreaming.

"You missed the bus!" She said, yelling at him.

"WHAT!" Charmander said, also yelling, suddenly being fully awake. He almost fell out of his bed as rushed to get his school uniform off the dresser. "Why didn't you wake me sooner?!"

"I tried, darling, three times—and each time you said you'd be right up!" She replied, frustrated.

"And you believed me!?" Charmander asked. "Well, whatever, bye! See you later, Mom!" He grabbed lunch money off the table and ran out the door, attempting to slip his shoes on while doing so. "Ugh...why can't today just be Saturday? I'm gonna be so late!" Charmander said to himself, running out of sight down the street.

His mother sighed, "Honestly, that boy..." She said, shaking her head in disbelief.

Warning: Minor, un detailed wet dream at the last paragraph. I also forgot to mention last chapter that there will be minor swearing (nothing too bad ;) )

Chapter 1: Field Trip

Charmander practically fell to his knees as he arrived at his school's steps, exhausted from all the running he had just done. He decided to take a moment before continuing onwards, as he didn't particularly want to face the wrath of Ms. Gardevoir at this very moment. Instead, Charmander sat on the steps trying to catch his breath. After mentally preparing himself for what was to come, he entered the school halls, took a left, and pushed open the doors to his classroom. He waited for a moment expecting to hear a remark from his teacher, before stopping to notice something: the room was empty. "What the...?" He asked himself. That's when it hit him: There was a field trip today! "Crap!" He took a quick glance out the window, "Good, bus is still here!" Sprinting for what felt like his life, he managed to get to the bus before anyone had even noticed he had been absent and stopped at the back of the line of the few students who had yet to get on the bus. Once again out of breath all ready, he decided he was really, really out of shape and could use some exercise. Enough of that for now, though. Sure, he'd probably get in trouble for arriving late, but at least he got there before the bus left. After stepping onto the bus, his face was instantly greeted by two things: Ms. Gardevoir giving him a death stare, and his two friends waving him over to the back of the bus. He decided to ignore the teacher—for now—and instead walked over to the back of the bus, where he then proceeded to collapse onto his seat before starting to drink from a water bottle he always had packed in his backpack.

"Dude, where the hell were you?" Squirtle asked, "I thought you weren't going to show up." Charmander stayed silent.

"Hey, don't tell us you slept through your alarm again!" Bulbasaur said jokingly, nudging Charmander lightly on the shoulder.

"M-maybe..." He said embarrassed. "B-but I couldn't help it! I was having such a nice dream…" He said remembering what had made him sleep in so late.

"Oh, really? It wasn't about Rose by any chance, was it?" Squirtle said slyly, referring to another classmate of theirs, Roselia. He and Bulbasaur were almost certain Charmander had a crush on her.

"W-what? No...it was nothing like that, ya perv!" He said playfully punching Squirtle on the shoulder.

"Then what was it about?" Bulbasaur asked, his interest now piqued.

"It was just about us as kids...It was the day we were playing Hide 'N Seek during our one sleepover—y'know, the one where that storm made us have to go inside so we played Clue instead...it was during spring break." Charmander explained.

"Why would you dream about that?" Squirtle asked. "Besides, wasn't that the same day your mom brought that guy over...and we thought he was a burglar, so we went downstairs and found them f-"

"SHUT UP!" Charmander shouted louder than he had meant to, causing a few people to look behind themselves to look at him. By this point, Charmander was blushing quite fiercely, embarrassed both by Squirtle's jests, and the remembrance of the events that had followed that day. Quite a long talk, that was...

The three of them now awkwardly sat quietly awaiting for the bus to arrive at wherever it was they were going.

When the bus had finally arrived—which to Charmander, felt like it had been hours—the students and chaperones exited in a neat and orderly line, as Ms. Gardevoir instructed them to do. It turned out that, unbeknownst to Squirtle, his parents had actually volunteered as chaperones (much to his dismay) and ended up being in his mom's group along with Charmander. Bulbasaur was put in Ms. Gardevoir's group, so they figured they wouldn't see too much of him today. "Mahhh-ummm..." Squirtle groaned. "Why are you here?"

"What? Is a mother not allowed to see her little Squirley?" His mom asked, giving him a pat on the head.

Squirtle pushed her hand away, "Mom, you're embarrassing meeee!" He whisper-yelled as some of the others—including Charmander—started chuckling. He didn't care who was his chaperone today, as long as it wasn't Ms. Gardevoir, who had still been giving him a death glare from all the way at the opposite side of the entrance.

"Oh, Squirley! Why are you always so mean to me?" She asked jokingly-over dramatically. As Squirtle and his mom argued—if you could even call it arguing—Charmander decided to take a look at his surroundings. From the outside, the Museum didn't appear to be very big, and was also pretty generic. It had an entrance with columns, as per cliché. There didn't appear to be anything around it for a good few miles, with mostly empty plains and some woods surrounding it. Something in particular caught his eye, however, as he noticed that there were Christmas decorations put up. He hadn't known that museums put up Christmas decorations, much less so extravagantly. There was a massive tree at the entrance, almost touching the ceiling; it had been decorated with seemingly as many ornaments and garland that could be found, topped with a shining gold star. Along the entire top of the building were two layers of red and green garlands, with blinking Christmas lights going down and around the columns. Charmander had actually forgotten how close it was to Christmas, and began to realise he didn't even know what he wanted. By now, Squirtle and his Mom had stopped "arguing", and the other groups had gotten ready, so the groups began to enter the building one-by-one. The first section their group had gone to was the painting exhibits. Now, while Charmander didn't particularly dislike paintings or anything, he was really hoping they would've gone to see the fossils first. Squirtle was looking at some portrait of an Oddish and a Skitty playing in a flower field, while Charmander was trying to wrap his head around some of the modern art that was featured there. The museum wasn't a very big one, so there was no separate section for modern art.

The rest of the trip was neither interesting nor exciting, and the fossils were a lot less cool than he had hoped. Most of them weren't even complete, usually missing an arm, or sometimes even the head. It was now time to leave, but first any students that had to were allowed to use the bathroom beforehand. Charmander was leaning against one of the pillars at the entrance talking to Squirtle about some of the things they had found interesting. "I thought the painting of that blue fish Legendary was pretty cool." Squirtle told Charmander.

"Wait, that modern art one in the corner?" Charmander asked. "That one was so stupid looking! I mean, the fins were frickin' rectangles! And its face, was like, split in half thrice..." Charmander began venting about his frustrations with modern art to Squirtle.

"You criticize art and then use the word _thrice_?" Squirtle started, "Charmander, you have no eye for good art—or vocabulary, apparently." He said shrugging his arms. "So, then, what did _**you**_ like?" He asked.

"Oh, umm... I didn't really like anything that much." Charmander said blankly, rubbing the back of his head out of awkwardness. He ignored the vocabulary comment. "I was hoping there'd be some neat fossils, but they turned out to be pretty lame…" Squirtle nodded his head in agreement to this.

"Yeah, you're right; there weren't even that many, either." There was a brief pause of silence before someone spoke again.

"...what's wrong with saying 'Thrice'?" Charmander asked, no longer being able to ignore Squirtle's mockery.

"No-one says it!"

"So?"

"W...what other reason do you need?"

"It's a perfectly fine word to use!"

"It makes you sound pretentious!"

"It's not even a big word! It's one syllable, Thrice. T-H-R-I-C-E. _Thrice_."

"It doesn't need to be big to sound pretentious!" Because of their bickering, neither Charmander nor Squirtle noticed anyone approaching them.

"Hey, shouldn't you two be kissing?" Came a voice.

"WHAT?!" Both Charmander and Squirtle said in unison, turning their heads to see Bulbasaur sitting there, laughing.

"What the hell does that mean!?" Charmander asked, kind of mad but mostly confused.

"Well, you two _are_ standing under mistletoe..." He said, still chuckling a bit. The two looked up to see that Bulbasaur was right, as mistletoe had been hung on the garland in between each column. They both quickly jumped away from each other out of embarrassment.

"Bulbasaur, you suck!" Squirtle said, giving a light punch to his shoulder, a light pink streak having appeared across the bridge of his nose. Bulbasaur only laughed in reply before going onto the bus. The other two, after a slight recuperation, boarded the bus as well, sitting next to Bulbasaur, who Charmander was sure Squirtle was plotting a revenge plan for. While he was sitting there, though, staring out the window at the museum, he felt a bit...odd. The idea of kissing Squirtle made him feel...aroused, even if only slightly. He blushed at the idea, and he quickly brushed it off—assuming it was just the idea of kissing someone that was turning him on. After all, he had never actually kissed someone before.

After everyone had returned home, Charmander couldn't stop thinking about it. He wasn't quite sure why, though. _"It was just a stupid joke Bulbasaur made..."_ He thought to himself. _"So why do I care so much about it...?"_ He sighed, trying to figure out answers he probably wouldn't be able to figure out. Eventually he decided that he'd probably forget about it by morning, and fell asleep. It didn't take long, however, before Squirtle started yelling at Charmander to hurry up or he'd be late for...something. Charmander complied with seemingly no control over himself or his actions and walked out of his bedroom, which just happened to be on the second floor of his two story house. Despite there being only two stories, Charmander didn't seem to care, and turned to go up a conveniently placed set of stairs. When he got to the top of them, he turned to the left and went through a door to find himself entering Squirtle's house.

"Finally, I thought you'd never come!" Squirtle said, even though it only took Charmander a few seconds to arrive. "C'mon upstairs!" Squirtle said taking Charmander's hand and leading him up to, assuming it was still technically Charmander's house, a usually non-existent fourth floor, before entering Squirtle's bedroom. Squirtle then inserted a "movie" starring a Machamp and, for some weird reason, Ms. Gardevoir, before taking a seat on his bed with Charmander. They both began to "play" while watching it, something he hadn't ever done before—at least in the presence of someone else like this—not, uh, that he ever did it by himself, that is...For some reason, some absurd, some seemingly unbeknownst reason, Charmander leaned over to Squirtle, and...well, "Ohhhh…!" Was all that could be heard for a little while, both inside and outside of the "movie." When the movie was over, the two kissed before falling asleep on what was, for some reason, Charmander's own bed.

"AHHHH!" Charmander awoke sweating fiercely. So many thoughts went through his head.

 _Why was I...?_

 _Why did I...?_

 _Why Squirtle...?_

 _Am I...?_

As all of these thoughts flooded into his mind, he noticed something that made his heart skip a beat: there was a wet spot in his sheets—a very noticeable wet spot at that. The full realization of what he had just dreamt of hit him, and it hit him _hard_.

* * *

 **Well, there we go! As promised in the description a wet dream...which happens to be the turning point in our fiery little friend's life.**

 **Constructive Criticism is greatly appreciated! Please, feel free to review. :3**

 **And so yeah, this the first chapter of the rewrite. I've wanted to continue this story for awhile, but the first time I was writing this, I didn't expect to get a single review, and when I did I got a bit too excited so I started rushing all of the chapters to get them out as soon as possible, causing them to have errors and be rather short, and so I felt it'd be a good idea to rewrite the chapters of the story I had already written first. Hopefully it's better than the original! I already have the second chapter mostly written out, so expect that in one or two weeks**

 **Also, last time I didn't really do anything with author notes, but this time, I decided I'd use the ones at the ends of chapters here for trivia and/or questions from reviewers.**

 **First, I'll answer a couple questions posted on the original story (I did previously answer them, but only in PMs.)**

 _ **Q: Are the characters humans/anthropomorphic?**_

 **A: No they are not! All of the characters are regular Pokémon that happen to dress-up and wear clothes. Since they're much more civilized than in the games (having things like houses, jobs, and electronics and whatnot), I thought it would make sense for them to not be naked anywhere.**

 _ **Q: How old are the characters?**_

 **A: Charmander, Squirtle, and Pikachu are 14, while Bulbasaur is a year younger than them. Also, Chariza is somewhere in her mid-30s, because she had Charmander a bit young.**

 _ **Q: What grade are the characters in?**_

 **A: The main characters are in the 8th Grade. I originally wanted them to be Sophomores (10th) in High School, but I wanted them to be a bit younger, and I didn't want them to be Freshmans (9th), since that would mean it's their first year in a new school. Because of this, I figured the last year in their current school would be the best way to go.**

 **And now, trivia:**

 **-Chutes 'n' Ekans is a double-joke. It should actually be "Ekans and Ladders," because "Chutes 'n' Ladders" is basically saying "Chutes and Snakes." (If you don't know, the game is either called "Snakes and Ladders" or "Chutes 'n' Ladders.")**

 **-Charmander's Mother's name, Chariza, is pronounced with a /sh/ sound, like Charlotte. (shar-ree-ZUH)**


End file.
